Super Bowl Sunday, February 7th, the 2 repeat episodes of THE BIGGEST LOSER are being expanded. Therefore, the network will run 8 minutes long that night. FYI, we'll also be running over on March 7th (Oscar night.) Details on this will be advised later.

Here's the real reason this is being expanded. As this is in the Feb sweeps, and this is the only night of Sunday Late News without an Olympic lead-in. By running longer than 7.5 mins past the hour, stations are permitted by Nielsen to re-title the "forced delay" newscasts for this night.

Want to know how to get the most out of this option? My clients can call any time.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Monday through Friday, effective February 1st (NEXT Monday)
3:04a-4:00a LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON AN (Repeat) (through July 2nd - except during the Olympics, February 12th - 28th) (RDRx comment: replaces repeats of Tonight Show with Conan.. this was sorta expected.)

Friday, February 12th (NIGHT OF OPENING CEREMONY)
12:35a-1:38a LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON (Original)
1:38a-2:40a LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON AN (Repeat)

Monday through Friday, effective March 1st
11:35-12:37a THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO (Original) (through September 17th)

Friday, January 22, 2010

An episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU will air in the 10PM ET/PT time period on Wednesday, February 10th, and 2 encore episodes of THE OFFICE will air @10 & 10:30PM ET/PT on Thursday, February 11th, leading up to the event of the season, the 2010 Winter Olympics!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

NBC and Conan O'Brien have reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O'Brien's contract to host "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien."

Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010.

O'Brien will make his final appearance as host of "The Tonight Show" on January 22.

My note.. Will Farrel was his first guest on his premiere show, pitching an awful movie. Will Farrel will be on his last show, as will Neil Young. Oh, let the wailing commence.

After a last long night of negotiations, the deal to end Mr. O’Brien’s short term as host of “The Tonight Show” was concluded with an agreement that will pay him about $32 million and free him up to return to television in eight months.

The deal is expected to be announced formally later Thursday. NBC confirmed early Thursday morning only that a deal was signed.

After Mr. O’Brien’s manager, Gavin Polone, told the Web site The Wrap that a deal was signed late last night West Coast time, NBC itself had brief reports this morning that the deal had been concluded.

Mr. O’Brien has been pointing to Friday as his last night in the job during a week of special appearances and walk-ons by many of the biggest stars who have been regular guests on the show. He will now have an official farewell show Friday night with two of late-night television’s most sought-after guests, Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell, and with Neil Young as the final musical guest.

Thursday’s agreement ends what has been a tense couple of weeks at NBC.

Mr. O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” has slumped in the ratings, and in response, NBC earlier this month decided to move Jay Leno and his show to the 11:35 p.m. time slot, bumping “The Tonight Show” and Mr. O’Brien to 12:05 a.m.

But Mr. O’Brien said he would not agree to what he considered a demotion, and said that he would leave the network. Since then, Mr. O’Brien, who had a guaranteed contract for another two and a half years at a salary that has been reported to be $10 million to $20 million a year, has been negotiating his departure.

Thursday’s agreement appears to set the stage for Mr. O’Brien to go to another network later this year. At least one network, Fox, has made public its interest in a possible show with Mr. O’Brien, though many questions remain about how easily that network could clear the late-night schedules of its stations to make room.

Posted: 01/19/2010 09:33:04 AM
Type: Announcements
Message: NBC News will provide coverage of the State of the Union on 1/27/10, 9-11p ET. Format, Operating Conditions and all other details will follow shortly.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Posted: 01/15/2010 10:52:38 AM
Type: Announcements
Message: A 2-hour NBC Special: Hope For Haiti Telethon (WT) on Jan. 22 will be officially booked later today. The program is scheduled to begin at 8p ET/PT (7p CT/MT). Local Format information to follow later today.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Yep, my clients are ready to hit the streets and avails first thing Friday morning with entirely updated NBC Prime inventory reflecting all the changes listed in the previous post. (Updated Friday 1/15: All of my NBC RDRx clients now have all specials, bringing prime and specials to a combined total of more than 70 lines of inventory, including the Haiti telethon.)

If you are not a OneDomain client, I can't help you. If you are my client, I'll work my butt off for you. To find out more about becoming an RDRx client, just ask your OneDomain Regional Sales Manager.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Contained in the emailed list (of less than 5 minutes ago) of things NBC offers stations:

Broadcast Schedule Coming Very Soon!

(Italicized text above is in RED in the email from the lovely and talented Anne Nicholas)

I look about once an hour to see if NBC Programming has announced anything for Prime after the Olympics, but APT is useless for this, and the New York Times has been more timely and accurate than anything from anywhere else. (See previous blogs here.)

As soon as I find out anything, my current NBC clients will be notified. Non-clients... well, just ask Reno. (sweet smile) Maybe IT can do it.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Conan O’Brien says he will not host “The Tonight Show” if it is moved to 12:05 a.m., as NBC has proposed.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Mr. O’Brien said he cannot participate “in what I honestly believe is its destruction.”

Mr. O’Brien’s comments come two days after NBC formally outlined a plan to move “The Jay Leno Show” to 11:35 p.m. in March, elbowing Mr. O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” back half an hour. Mr. Leno seems supportive of the plan; but in his statement, Mr. O’Brien rejects it outright. The statement reads:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

After 16 years making a name with his distinctive brand of intellectually silly comedy on NBC’s “Late Night” show, Mr. O’Brien replaced Mr. Leno as the host of “The Tonight Show” a mere seven months ago. He is just the fifth man to lead ”Tonight,” after Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Mr. Leno.

Mr. Leno, meanwhile, moved to prime time in September as the host of “The Jay Leno Show.” But the 10 p.m. experiment was a bust for many NBC affiliates, which have seen the ratings for their late local newscasts plummet.

Amid mounting pressure to scrap the talk show, NBC announced on Sunday that Mr. Leno’s last show at 10 p.m. would be Feb. 11. NBC will begin showing the Winter Olympics the next day, setting the stage for a new schedule on March 1. But the network acknowledged that day that Mr. O’Brien was not yet on board with the move.

Fox has expressed interest in starting a late-night show starring Mr. O’Brien — provided he found a way to extricate himself from his NBC contract. The contractual complications were outlined in this story in Tuesday’s New York Times.

Monday, January 11, 2010

While we wait for a few more details regarding 20 hours of NBC-supplied programming each week beginning in just 47 days, NBC RDRx clients' SPORTES Selling Book, including estimate updates for this coming fall's NFL and 4th Quarter Sports Specials will be updated.

"This is a great move for the affiliates, the network and, most importantly, the viewers. Speaking on behalf of the board I thank the network for keeping the lines of communication so open, and for being so responsive to the needs of the affiliates. We admire their willingness to innovate, and their willingness to change course when it didn't work for us. We were delighted to collaborate on the launch of the 10:00 PM show, and we look forward to continuing to work with Jeff Zucker and the entire network leadership team as we set a new direction, build on our long history together, and contribute to the impressive legacy of NBC."

------------------------------------------

Even though none of us know the line up of five hours of prime each week beginning in 6 weeks, nor the exact nature of the late night lineup, I've already updated my NBC client inventory to reflect possible outcomes.

NBC, in remarks made just minutes ago this morning by Jeff Gaspin, has announced that as of February 12, 2010, The Jay Leno Show will no longer air at 10pm ET/9pm CT.

We will send more information when it becomes available regarding prime time programming plans after the Olympics.

Below is a brief transcript of Jeff's remarks: "I can confirm what many of you have been reporting -- starting February 12, we will no longer air The Jay Leno Show at 10:00. While it was performing at acceptable levels for the network, it did not meet the needs of our affiliates -- and we realized we had to make a change.
My goal is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as part of our late night line-up. I've spoken to all three of them and proposed that "The Jay Leno Show" move to 11:35, "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" move to 12:05 and "Late night with Jimmy Fallon" at 1:05.
The talks are ongoing."

A correction was sent by Scot a bit later, so I've changed the original post to reflect the change which was obviously a mistake, because I placed (sic) in the first version.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Pressed by affiliates and shrinking ratings, NBC has a plan in the works to radically alter its late-night television lineup, restoring Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 each weeknight, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O’Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m.

NBC executives held extensive discussions with both Mr. Leno and Mr. O’Brien Thursday about the future of the network’s late-night lineup.

And while NBC officially said no final decision on the plan has been made, two senior NBC executives who have talked to NBC’s top management about the moves said that under the plan being discussed Mr. Leno would definitely shift back to 11:35 but in a half-hour format, while Mr. O’Brien would slide back his start time by a half hour and then produce an hour-long show.

“We remain committed to keeping Conan O’Brien on NBC,” the network said in a statement Thursday evening. “He is a valued part of our late-night line-up, as he has been for more than 16 years and is one of the most respected entertainers on television.”

The third NBC late-night star, Jimmy Fallon, would then begin his show at 1:05 a.m., the executives said. The revised lineup would go into effect after NBC concludes its coverage of the Winter Olympics on February 28. NBC will pre-empt both its prime-time and late-night lineup for more than two weeks to cover the Olympics, creating a natural break in which to implement the late-night changes.

My incredible NBC RDRx clients will have the above options in their Prime inventories Thursday morning, including seasonal audience estimates, updated as needed by official updates from NBC, or reliable info as from the New York Times.

NBC executives denied a rumor that appeared on a Web site Thursday that the network had made a decision to cancel its “Jay Leno Show” — but at the same time the network acknowledged that low ratings for the show had become a serious problem for NBC’s affiliated stations.

The report, which appeared Thursday on a Web site called FTV, was followed by an interview with its author on KNX radio in Los Angeles, who cited network sources saying Mr. Leno’s show would be dropped, perhaps as soon as after NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics concludes next month.

But NBC executives then issued two statements, one saying that Mr. Leno had dominated the ratings as a late-night star for more than 15 years and was working with the affiliated stations to try to improve the ratings performance of his prime-time show, and then another statement that said definitively that the show had not been canceled.

NBC’s initial statement read: “Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today. As we have said all along, Jay’s show has performed exactly as we anticipated on the network. It has, however, presented some issues for our affiliates. Both Jay and the show are committed to working closely with them to find ways to improve the performance.”

Mr. Leno’s show, which has appeared each weeknight at 10 p.m. since last fall, has produced low but steady ratings over the last several months, not out of line with what NBC guaranteed advertisers. But the show has been blamed for some sharp ratings falloffs in the 11 p.m. local newscasts at NBC’s stations – and pressure has been mounting from the affiliates who depend on local news for the bulk of their revenue.

NBC’s affiliate board has a meeting scheduled with the network on Jan. 21. The period after the Olympics might be a logical time for some kind of schedule change, but NBC executives acknowledged late last year that it has few programs ready to be plugged in at 10 p.m.

One reason the rumors of a possible cancellation have grown is that NBC has put more pilots into production than in any recent year. So far NBC executives have not confirmed that one reason for adding more pilots was a possible need to find five new 10 p.m. dramas for next fall.